What's For Dinner? - 2020

[catapault]

Last night's fish tacos were good - fried strips of tilappia with the usual flour / egg / bread crumb coating in corn tortillas with thin sliced raw cabbage and a white sauce of yogurt, mayonnaise, cumin, hot paprika subbed in for chili, oregano, and chopped up salsa verde because at the last minute I couldn't find the open jar of capers I was sure should have been in the refrigerator.

The fried rice balls were very nice but to much of a fuss to make again: Sunday's left over risotto had grated Parmesan mixed in while still warm. Make little balls, flour / egg / bread crumbs, then fry. They have a tendency to fall apart while turning over in oil. So like I said, tasty, nice, not sufficiently nice to be worth the effort.

 

[AbbysMom]

I made fish tacos last night (for the first time) and we'll be having leftovers tonight.

 

[susanm9006]

First charcoal grilled hot dogs of the summer, Delicious!

 

[maggiedemi]

Casseroles for lunch and dinner.

I think I figured out why my casseroles have been tasting like abominations. The sesame oil I was using expired last August.

 

[LTS3]

I think toasted sesame oil is used more as a finishing oil, kind of like a drizzle of really good quality olive oil over a dish before it goes to the table. Asians do use regular sesame oil for high temperature cooking like in a wok for stir fries. I've never heard of using sesame oil for a baked casserole in any way.

Are you still looking for hot sauces? Have you tried small artisanal brands? I saw these:

Hillside Harvest

Hillside Harvest Gourmet Sauces And Condiments. Caribbean American Sauces Focused On Flavor Over Heat

www.hillsidesauce.com

Alex's Ugly Sauce (online store currently closed)

Tasting Counter

tastingcounter.com

 

[neely]

Cool and rainy day so decided to make a big pot of veggie chili which will provide leftovers for the next week.

 

[lizzie]

Tonight's dinner was western omelets with homemade buttermilk biscuits.Delish!

 

[maggiedemi]

I think toasted sesame oil is used more as a finishing oil, kind of like a drizzle

Oh. Well maybe it isn't spoiled then. I'll try it drizzled on at the end of cooking and see. Whoops.

Are you still looking for hot sauces? Have you tried small artisanal brands?

Thank you. Yes, I'm always looking for new hot sauces! A lot of the ones I buy are smaller brands. I have a collection of 50 hot sauces and several powders/flakes.

 

[LTS3]

50 hot sauces? That's a lot Are you in the Hudson Valley region? You might find local artisanal brands of hot sauces on this local magazine / web site: Home Hudson Valley

Tonight is either leftovers from the second salad or leftovers from today's Bertucci's pizza lunch. I had the Sporkie pizza last time. This time chose pepperoni.

 

[Winchester]

Baked ziti tonight. Instead of making one large pan and freezing leftovers, I'm going to make two smaller pans and just freeze one pan for later on. Making a bit of salad, too.

 

[Winchester]

How do you cook yours? I have some ready as well and was thinking of steaming them...?

Furballsmom , I cut the asparagus diagonally in 1/2 inch pieces. Set the tips aside.

Heat one tablespoon butter (I like olive oil, too) in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the asparagus pieces and toss to coat with the butter or oil. Add barely about 2 tablespoons of water and the asparagus tips, cover and steam for 3-4 minutes, until tender but still a bit crisp. Drain off any water that has not evaporated, add another tablespoon of butter or oil, and season with salt and pepper. I also like to spritz with just a wee bit of lemon juice or will season with Sunset Tuscan seasoning from Penzey.

This was originally from Ina Garten's recipe for Asparagus with Leeks, but I just use asparagus. She recommends sprinkling with tarragon and I do use that from time to time. We don't have a ton of asparagus at a time from the garden, just enough for two servings or so. I like the asparagus to be tender, but still crisp.

 

[catapault]

M maggiedemi Sesame oil can go off, especially if it is kept in a warm place near a stove and also if the jar is exposed to light. Open bottle, put a finger over the opening and tilt to get just a little on your finger. Taste. If it tastes off, discard it. Won't hurt you but certainly won't improve your meal.

Tired last night so I got a container of chili out of the freezer. We had that with a side dish of corn and black beans jazzed up a bit with Goya Sazon. And Hint of Lime tortilla chips. He had chocolate chip cookie - I baked a batch late in the afternoon.

Today, while digging compost for yet another garden project because it is supposed to rain and I wanted to transplant hellebores - but I am wandering in these thoughts. Anyhow down at the bottom of the driveway where the bamboo is next to the compost heap I found three nice fat large shoots. So tonight we will have a stir fry of thin sliced beef with bamboo, fiddle heads, asparagus. Probably over rice but thin noodles are also an option.

 

[Furballsmom]

I like the asparagus to be tender, but still crisp.

Me too, and thank you !

So tonight we will have a stir fry

Yummo!

Ummm, something with either chicken or fish...

 

[Willowy]

Oh. Well maybe it isn't spoiled then. I'll try it drizzled on at the end of cooking and see. Whoops.

Sesame oil has a very strong flavor, mostly suited to Asian dishes---I made a really great fried rice the other day with sesame oil. But it's going to taste weird on most other foods. For general use you want something neutral like vegetable oil or canola oil. (And, what kind of casserole do you like to make?)

Tonight I'm going to try 2 things I haven't tried before: Korean spa eggs and chicken paprikash, both in the instant pot. Hope they turn out ok!

 

[susanm9006]

Homemade (sort of) pizza baked in a cast iron skillet. Store dough for crust, Davanni’s pizza sauce, Johnsonville Italian sausage. It turned out great and really delicious.

 

[maggiedemi]

Are you in the Hudson Valley region?

I Googled it and I'm 4 hours away from Hudson Valley.

Sesame oil can go off, especially if it is kept in a warm place near a stove

It was in the fridge for like a year I think. Maybe it's still okay.

And, what kind of casserole do you like to make?

I was trying to create my own casseroles, but it's not working for me. I'll have to use recipes from now on. I got 4 cans of cream of mushroom soup! Maybe I can make something with those.


For dinner I had roasted potato/carrot/onion/garlic mix with hot sauce on it, also cooked a crumbled up veggie burger on the stove in olive oil & hot sauce. It was pretty good. I think 8 minutes on the veggie burger was a little too long.

 

[Kat0121]

I Googled it and I'm 4 hours away from Hudson Valley.



It was in the fridge for like a year I think. Maybe it's still okay.



I was trying to create my own casseroles, but it's not working for me. I'll have to use recipes from now on. I got 4 cans of cream of mushroom soup! Maybe I can make something with those.


For dinner I had roasted potato/carrot/onion/garlic mix with hot sauce on it, also cooked a crumbled up veggie burger on the stove in olive oil & hot sauce. It was pretty good. I think 8 minutes on the veggie burger was a little too long.

Just a note about the soup. This is from an older post in this thread from Muffy:

Well this is the third time I have tried to answer your reply. I wrote Campbell's several times asking them which of their soup was vegan. After several tries they wrote back and said that only their Vegetarian Vegetable soup and V-8 Juice were vegetarian. On their label they list Natural Flavors which probably means that something is in the soup that is derived from meat. They are allowed to do that.

If you're using Campbell's cream of mushroom, it's not vegetarian. You can double check by asking them but the label is still the same. That's a lousy thing for Campbell's to do IMO. People have a right to know what "natural flavors" are and if they are meat derived so they can decide if they want it or not. I'm sure that there are many people who have used these soups countless times over the years never knowing that they are not vegetarian. That's really unethical IMO.

Back to the thread though. I had pizza and vegetables.

 

[LTS3]

I Googled it and I'm 4 hours away from Hudson Valley.

I was trying to create my own casseroles, but it's not working for me.

There's a Westchester region for the same magazine: Home Westchester Either way, both would likely have info on artisanal locally made all things food in NY The magazine has some NYC borough focused magazines but it doesn't sound like you're near the city.

I think it would be better to find a basic casserole recipe you like and make little changes every time you make it to. See what works and what doesn't. If the recipe calls for chicken, try turkey next time. If it calls for a bread crumb topping, try crushed Ritz crackers. I wouldn't change the seasonings / spices too much since some things just don't go well together.

I ended up having leftover lunch pizza. Lunch came super late and there wasn't time to eat everything and then find an empty room to attend the Zoom team meeting.

 

[lizzie]

Tonight was a clean out the leftovers night,so we each had a little of this and that,and biscuits too.Still have the halushki left and we'll either have that tomorrow night or it's going in the freezer.

 

[Willowy]

I was trying to create my own casseroles, but it's not working for me. I'll have to use recipes from now on.

I don't even want to think of the disaster if I didn't follow a recipe!

If you're using Campbell's cream of mushroom, it's not vegetarian

Apparently there was a later update, and Campbell's has said that, yes, it is vegetarian. There was some confusion the first time around.